1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring camera system, for monitoring a monitor area, having a plurality of monitoring cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art
There suggests a conventional monitoring camera system which has a plurality of monitoring cameras and monitors a monitor area. For example, there suggests a technique in which one of two monitoring cameras is used for wide area imaging for capturing an image of a monitor area widely, and the other camera is used for zoom-in for zooming in and capturing a moving object (intruder or the like) intruding into the monitor area so that the intruder or the like is monitored. As a result, the enlarged image of the intruder can be obtained, and thus it is convenient for identifying intruders.
However, in the above monitoring system, since the two monitoring cameras are set for the wide area imaging and the zoom in, respectively, information useful for identifying the intruder using the monitoring camera for zoom in, i.e., enlarged images of a face or the like cannot be occasionally obtained. For example, there is a case that an image of a background of an intruder is captured by the monitoring camera for zoom in.
In such a case, the plural monitoring cameras installed in different places occasionally include a monitoring camera which is suitable for capturing an image of the face of an intruder. Namely, when the plural monitoring cameras are cooperatively controlled suitably, it is considered that an image, in which abnormal contents such as intrusion can be easily recognized, can be obtained.